


Stargaze

by toushindai (WallofIllusion)



Category: Baccano!
Genre: Gen, Hints of Huey/Elmer I won't lie, mostly this is a guess at the dynamic they'll all three have together tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 06:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11053449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WallofIllusion/pseuds/toushindai
Summary: Luchino's captives make a request. He denies it.





	Stargaze

“You want to _stargaze_?” Luchino asks suspiciously. Aging bursts into a cackle at the odd request, but a glare from Luchino silences her; then he turns his eyes towards Huey, trying to assess his face though Huey has yet to look him in the eyes. It’s Elmer who answers his question, his grin untouched by the tension in the air.

“Yeah, we used to go up into the crow’s nest of the _Advena Avis_ and stargaze together all the time! Huey, remember that time we scared the crap out of Victor ‘cause he didn’t expect us to be up there?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Whaddaya say, Luchino? Can we go hang out on the roof for a bit?”

Luchino’s hands clench into fists at Elmer’s grating flippancy and Huey’s unending dispassion. His lip curls, and before he knows why, he has answered, “No.”

Elmer’s face falls as deliberately as a reaction shot in a cartoon. “No? Aww, come on. Just for a little bit.  I promise I’m not gonna run, and I’ll do my best to make sure Huey stays put too!”

“Why would I let the two of you be alone together?!” Luchino demands. He’s speaking to Elmer, but his eyes keep darting towards Huey, looking for any kind of reaction. “You’re the Mask Makers’ prisoners. Both of you. And you think I’ll let you spend unsupervised time together? _Outside_?”

“Well, we may be your prisoners, but we’re also Mask Makers ourselves, remember? We could supervise each other!”

“That’s not a solution!” Luchino snaps, and then forces himself to take a deep breath as a flush creeps up the back of his neck. Why is _he_ the only one getting worked up here, when he’s allegedly the one in control? Huey’s silence and his shallow smile weigh in the pit of Luchino’s stomach like a stone. He makes himself speak calmly. “I forbid it. That’s final.”

“But why?” Elmer badgers him.

“Because it’s my decision.”

“Maybe he’s afraid I’ll kill you.”

Luchino’s stomach drops at the sound of Huey’s voice. There is a dry amusement in his tone, and his lips are curled up in a scornful smirk that he directs at Elmer. He doesn’t look at Luchino, and he opens his mouth and speaks again.

“Just like he thinks I killed Monica.”

Hatred pulses through Luchino like fire because this bastard is _still smiling_. Like Monica’s death is a joke. Like he thinks Luchino’s vendetta is powerless and pointless, something that the Campanellas have shouldered for three hundred years just so that he could discover it and laugh at it now. Like he expects this damn Smile Junkie to laugh along with him, and if Elmer does _that_ then Luchino doesn’t even know how he’ll react—

Elmer doesn’t laugh along.

Instead he places a calming hand on Luchino’s shoulder but keeps his eyes on Huey. “Hey, Huey? I know it’s been three hundred years, so maybe you forgot—but if you want to play the smug villain in front of _me_ , you’d better do it without smiling, remember? I saw it go fake just now.”

Luchino furrows his brow as Huey’s smile shifts. Now it is visibly plastic, his golden eyes revealing a hint of uncertainty before he closes them and takes a deep breath. For a moment, there is silence. Then, without opening his eyes, Huey gives a dry snicker that shakes his shoulders. He rubs the bridge of his nose and then finally opens his eyes to look at Elmer, and he looks like a completely different person.

“I didn’t forget,” he tells Elmer, the corner of his mouth lifted in a wry smile. “How could I forget the way you always used to hound me?”

“Oh, good!” Elmer lights up at the change in Huey’s bearing and he, too, takes on the tone of a man ribbing his friend good-naturedly. “In that case, what I really wanna know is why you were smiling _genuinely_ at Luchino thinking you want to kill me.”

“Obviously, because it’s completely absurd,” Huey answers.

“So’s the idea that you would ever do anything to harm Monica,” is Elmer’s immediate response, brimming with confidence. Again Huey’s smile wavers, and for the first time his gaze passes over Luchino. Their eyes meet and Luchino’s heart plunges in his chest with the understanding—the irresistible, inescapable understanding—that the man before him is a human being with a heart that beats just like his own.

Then Huey turns away, and Luchino can breathe again.

“That isn’t what he’s been told,” Huey says, as if the story that has been passed down for generations is the only thing that determines the truth of this matter. He shrugs. “In any case, it seems we’ll have to stargaze some other time, Elmer.” 

He goes to leave, waiting docilely by the door until Luchino indicates with a sharp nod of his chin that Aging should accompany him to his room. 

Once he is gone, it takes a long time for Luchino’s heartbeat to settle. Elmer is—for once—silent, seemingly deep in thought. Finally, he claps his hands together with a sudden idea. 

“I know!” he exclaims. “We could all stargaze together!”

And, having solved that which only he thought was the problem, he looks to Luchino for a smile. 

**Author's Note:**

> Might continue? Might not.


End file.
